Unfortunatly, I don't own this set (before my time) but if it were still avalible for purchase I would buy quite a few. Although, Lego has come a long way from this in creating more historically accurate Viking ship designs. Using the spears as oars is a novel idea. From what I see, I would give this set an 8/10.

I just love sets like this. One of the best of the army builders of the Great Age. I like the adaptability of this set (and others in the same era). They used pieces in ingenious ways, like spears for oars. Of course that's not right, but they made suitable surrogates, and that kind of thinking seemed to cascade down to the consumers. One of the greatest weaknesses of current sets (though they have seen marked improvement of late) is the specialization of pieces. Great overall set for multi-purpose use. Though ironically, it doesn't work well for me as a boat. I must have bought 10 of these, but only built one of the boats. They did lead to the Crusader Catamarand though!

Men who lie, merely hide the truth; but men who tell half-lies, have forgotten where they put it--Samuel Clemens

This set must have come out before Lego had proper paddles since sets like 6057 Sea Serpent come with paddles. This set looks great except for the fact they are paddling with spears. I just got this one off of ebay!

This was my first castle set! My dad bought it "for me" when I was 6 and wouldn't let me play with it for almost a whole year. I remember it sitting up where I couldn't get to it which made me want it all the the more. When I finally got it I played with it constantly. I even took it in the bath. I still have all the peices, although some of the men are worse for wear.As for the parts, I never liked those white bendy things. I think they look too space-like so I always let my astronauts use them. They are also really dirty and disgusting looking now.

Nicker wrote:This set must have come out before Lego had proper paddles since sets like 6057 Sea Serpent come with paddles. This set looks great except for the fact they are paddling with spears.

As a kid it never occured to me that they needed paddles. I just sent the boat where it had to go and they had their spears for attacking all the local villages!

"If you want knowledge, you must take part in the practice of changing reality. If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself."

Albatross_Viking wrote:Sadly before my birth... but great set anyways A_V

Its always interesting to hear people say that...makes me feel like as old(and wise) as Elrond/Galadriel.

Great set, this was awesome for army building. I think I purchased six sets, which back then seemed like a lot. I loved this Lion faction and is one main reason why I stopped my dark age. I liked the spears as oars as it gave me extra spears and was a clever new use for them. It would be nice for LEGO to make a Crown version. -Tower

Forestboy wrote:I find it funny though how it's called a viking boat when there are no vikings on it and they're using spears as oars.

It is not called “a” Viking boat. But “Viking Voyager” simply is its American name. In other countries the set had different names.However, the boat’s shape remotely reminds of a vikingish ship, and being a child from the 80s, when Lego offered only so many details and you had to imagine most of them by yourself, I used this boat indeed as a viking boat. I simply repurposed the lion knights so they became my vikings.

ByeJojo

This is just the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.Winston Churchill

It's a nice army builder with a some very useful brick. The white tube and the four red-boat bottom part could be useful to build non-castle MOC ( spaceship or MECHA). I don't know if oars were available at the time but it would have been nice to have some to replace the spear. And four colors of flag is a very nice touch. I give it a 4/5.

Back in the day I saved up and bought this with my allowance. I loved it so much that I ended up buying a second several months later with birthday money. In those days money was tight so buying a duplicate set was a big deal to me. I loved this set, lots of figures, great boat, and it made my lions more expeditionary. I never took issue with the hoses as I already had them from http://www.classic-castle.com/sets/archives/6016.html and they seemed to fullfil a certain role well. They reminded me of the bands used to hold up the canvas on the old Conestoga wagons. I want my children to be able to look back at their childhood Lego and feel the same way I do about this set. I give it a 5/5.

This set makes for a good little ship. Although there is nothing distinctly "viking" about it, it's still a good set. I don't know if LEGO was producing oars or not at this time; either way, using spears for oars was a clever idea. It also made the set more desirable, since it has so many minifig weapons.

All in all, a good set; especialy if you're trying to build up your minifig army.

Here comes the orator! With his flood of words,And his drop of reason.- Ben Franklin

I had this piece. The thing that stands out, and probably why I remember it is the white ropes around the treasure chest. It's an okay piece, but nothing too special in my opinion. The Sea Serpent was the one to have.

I got this set when I was very young (acctually my sister had it) It gave lots of play and was really easy to put figs in and play with those. One thing I can't stand about the set is those stupid white pipes! They really should have put something a bit more castle like there. Overall the design is great. A well crafted set I give it a 9 out of 10. Although I do agree with elvis8atari, The Sea Serpent was the better one to buy.